The hoe fell, leaving only a white spot on the hard frozen soil.
"Quick, work quickly, don't stop until you finish the work!"
The boy from Quanyuan looked at the construction site expressionlessly, like an ice sculpture braving the cold air. No one dared to approach or plead. Ever since Izumi Izumi left with his two younger brothers, he has become like this. He remembers his father's words: For the Snatcher, fear is the most useful weapon.
"Dai Lu! The Silla people's grain transport team has arrived, do you want to send troops to attack?" When the Quanyuan boys were preparing to leave the construction site, an officer said breathlessly.
The boy Quanyuan didn't say anything. He stared into the officer's eyes until the officer lowered his head: "No, just send a detective to monitor him!"
"yes!"
The boy Quan Yuan ignored the officer, jumped on his horse, and headed towards the official residence. Of course he knew that this batch of military rations was of great importance, but he knew better that the most trustworthy army in the city had been taken away by his father, and he himself He is a defeated general. If he suffers another defeat, it will probably be more difficult to deploy him.
"Father, you must win!"
"Based on the campfire, there should be 100,000 soldiers under the command of General Su this time!" He Bayong gasped with excitement: "I have never seen such a magnificent military camp!"
"It's a pity that there are not many cavalry, otherwise there would be no need to build so many fortifications!" Wang Wenzuo muttered in a voice that only he could hear clearly. As he said, the Tang Army's camp consisted of six large camps. Each camp had a complete earthen rampart, double-layered wooden walls, watchtowers, and three trenches. In addition, there were also other camps between the camps. Connected by a corridor, a barrier several kilometers long leads directly to the dock next to the Datong River. Further away, you can vaguely see stretches of barriers. Obviously, the Tang army did not spend so much effort building fortifications just for fun. As the attacking party, there was only one possibility - the cavalry was at a disadvantage, so field fortifications must be used to ensure the safety of one's own camps and supply lines.
"Sanlang, you must have just fought, smell this smell!" Cui Hongdu sniffed and whispered.
Wang Wenzuo didn't speak. Although he didn't see any corpses wherever he looked, the smell of crows that specialized in eating carrion filled the air. The charred fields and burned-out villages that could be seen everywhere along the way told them that something happened here not long ago. What.
"The Goguryeo people are indeed our great rivals in the Tang Dynasty!" Cui Hongdu whispered: "It seems that there will definitely be many hard battles ahead!"
"That is the opportunity for my good man to make meritorious deeds!" He Bayong looked eager to try: "I heard that although General Su has strict military discipline, he promotes officers who have made meritorious deeds very quickly, for example -"
"Stop, someone is coming, order all teams to be on alert!" Wang Wenzuo shouted at He Bayong. A group of cavalry was approaching him. Judging from the flags flying above their heads, they should be patrol posts belonging to the Tang Army.
"Are you—?" The visitor reined in the war horse. He wore a maroon helmet with a Chinese character and looked at Wang Wenzuo and his party with vigilance.
"I am Colonel Xuanjie of the Xiongjin Governor's Mansion, please don't be Wang Wenzuo!" Wang Wenzuo took out his waistband talisman and handed it to the visitor: "I was ordered by General Jin, the general manager of the Shenqiu Road Marching Army, to escort food to Pyongyang with the Silla Army. Camp!”
"It turns out they are here to transport food! Okay, okay!" The visitor was immediately overjoyed when he heard this. After checking that the talisman on his waist tag was correct, he handed it back to Wang Wenzuo: "The food team is still behind, right? You are finally here!"
"Well, I'm waiting for the front team, and the chief manager is still behind!"
"Okay, okay!" The visitor turned around and said, "Go back to the camp quickly, tell the general what happened here, and send troops to meet the food team!" He glanced at the soldiers behind Wang Wenzuo who had their crossbows cocked and their swords unsheathed. Thumbs up: "Good soldiers trained by Colonel Wang are indeed like this. The Goguryeo people are really powerful enemies!"
"Oh, why do you say that?" Wang Wenzuo paused for a moment: "By the way, I haven't asked my brother about his official position yet, I'm rude!"
"Haha, a certain family's surname is Wang Zhaotang, and he is also a Xuejie captain just like you!"
"That's a coincidence!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Brother Wang, you just said that the Goguryeo people are also strong enemies. Could it be that the war was not going well a few days ago?"
"Well!" Wang Zhaotang pointed around: "Look at the fields and villages around here, do you know who burned them?"
"The walls are strong and the fields are clear. These should be Goguryeo people, right?" Wang Wenzuo thought for a moment and then replied.
"Haha!" Wang Zhaotang laughed twice: "First it was the Goguryeo people who burned it, and then we burned it!"
"It's not surprising that Goguryeo people burned it, so why should we burn it? Isn't it good to keep it?"
"Hey!" Wang Zhaotang laughed bitterly: "We arrived at the end of August, and the autumn valley was about to be climbed. Everyone wanted to surround the Goguryeo people in the city so that we could eat the autumn valley in the fields, so they built a long perimeter and prepared for a visit. They harvested the grain when it was ripe, and the Goguryeo people kept sending troops out of the city to set fire to the houses outside the city. But as we came across the sea, there were too few horses, and our territory became less and less. , just send people to set fire to the outside."
"Well! No wonder General Manager Su is in such a hurry to transport food!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "I didn't expect the situation under Pyongyang City to be like this!"
"Yes! The key now is that there are few horses. The fewer horses you have, the less you can enclose the territory. The smaller the territory, the less space you have for grazing. It is difficult to go out to collect food. Without grass and food, people can survive, mules and horses. I can’t bear it!”
"Well, yes!" Wang Wenzuo also sighed.
"Actually, it doesn't matter. Just wait a few more days and it's enough!" Wang Zhaotang said with a smile: "The North Army has cavalry from the Khitan, Tiele tribes and the Yingzhou camp. As long as they arrive, it will be easy to defeat the Goguryeo cavalry! "
According to the establishment of the Tang army at that time, not to mention cavalry units, even infantry units also had a large number of mules and horses, which were used to carry heavy armor and even march troops. They only dismounted their horses in formation during battle. This is why the Tang army was able to penetrate deep into the desert in the early Tang Dynasty. , defeated the Xue Yantuo, Turks, Tuyuhun, Khitan and other nomadic peoples in the plain wilderness. However, due to the technical conditions at the time, the number of mules and horses in the Tang army during the sea-crossing expedition was greatly reduced. It was okay when facing Baekje, which was mainly infantry, but faced the Goguryeo people who controlled a large area of land in Liaodong and had a strong cavalry force. , they had to adopt the tactics of being strict with their scouts and building forts to defend themselves. The more this happened, the less pasture land the Tang army could control. The less pasture land they controlled, the thinner their mules and horses became. They fell into such a situation. A vicious cycle, and there is only one way to break this cycle, and that is the arrival of the Tang Army from the North Road with a powerful cavalry force.
Lewen
